This invention is in the field of ball retrieving devices and particularly golf ball retrievers.
Many golf ball retrievers have been proposed heretofore but all had certain shortcomings such as difficulty in engaging and retrieving a ball or difficulty in releasing the ball after being engaged and lifted by the device. Golf balls often become lodged in places that are difficult of access or in water rendering it necessary to provide some device for retrieving the ball regardless of its lie or surroundings. Patents numbered U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,046,044 and 3,029,097 each show ball retrievers having an extensible handle and a ball container with an opening through which the ball can be passed. A gate normally closes the opening but is swung inwardly when the device is placed over a golf ball and lowered thereon, then the gate drops to trap the ball in the container. To recover the ball after withdrawal from a body of water or the like it is necessary that the gate be manually opened to release the ball and in many cases the device is wet and often muddy which soils the user's hands. In addition, the patented devices permit engagement with a ball to be retrieved in only one attitude.